Eric Rule and I have been discussing the possibility of kitting a few designs of the old traditional or vintage RC kits that are out of production. We could use your input on which designs would be desirable. This is based on feedback from some RC fliers that there is a resurgence of building these old designs.

Any feedback you can help us with will help determine which designs we might kit.

There are several I would like to see, Jim Kirkland's Citron, Hal DeBolt's Cobra and Phil Kraft's Kwik Fli come to mind. Several are cutting short kits of the Kwik Fli but no one I know of does a complete kit since the demise of Home and Hobby Solutions. The later Kraft designs like Slik Fli and Dragon Fli have gotten attention lately. Several are doing Das Ugly Stik short kits but again no one I know of does a full kit, that would be nice.

Eric Rule and I have been discussing the possibility of kitting a few designs of the old traditional or vintage RC kits that are out of production. We could use your input on which designs would be desirable. This is based on feedback from some RC fliers that there is a resurgence of building these old designs.

Any feedback you can help us with will help determine which designs we might kit.

Thank you

Mike

Yes indeed, the Jensen kit but not hacked up like the original Grid Leaks plans version with Fokker cowl, machine guns and stupid Snoopy!

An excellent model although I would recommend a redesign on the wing spar to a more conventional method and to sheet the center section to avoid the original problem of the wing folding when covered with Monokote.The spruce spars were supposed to fix this. The original kit had a warning about this.

I flew a couple of the Jensen kits for likely 15 years and never had a problem although my wings were covered with nylon from a fabric store and butyrate.

These days not many guys are going to cover with silk or nylon so the strength will be needed.Also....make the wing a bolt on and ditch the #4 rubber bands....Ditch the single aileron servo and bell cranks....use 2 aileron servos.

Probably best to provide the original dural landing gear because I don't know of anywhere a dural l/g the correct size can be obtained right now.Hallco is long gone and forgotten.

I would be interested in this, but would want a kit that is not simple to scratch build like a ugly stick, kwik fli, etc, that has a constant chord wing. I would buy a Taurus, Kaos 60, Dirty Birdy, etc.

Not a very skilled or even very active RC guy, but I rub shoulders with many quite regularly. Just had a huge annual auction last Saturday that draws a crowd from considerable distances; I sold about 14 RC airplanes.

My sense is you really need to step back a minute ... The movement to ARF and Electric is massive. Nitro engines are a dime a dozen here, really! I buy quite a few ready-to-fly airplanes, complete with radio, and make money selling just the engines on eBay. (Last year, I bought a tub of engines - including 2 SuperTigre .60s - for about $55. A brand new in the box OS .90 with the carb pulled cost me $20.)

And most of the guys I considered builders 20 years ago just aren't interested any more. The cost of an ARF is considerably less than a kit plus the necessities, why not spend the time with the grandkids?

The builders I see (within a couple of large RC clubs here) tend to like scale models and electric power. A couple of months ago one of the very active members brought a finished Goldberg kit - that he started in the '60s!

As for most of the "old timers" mentioned above - aren't ARFs of most available?

Some thoughts:

(1) Any kit you offer should be designed with convenient conversion to electric in the forefront - if not intended primarily for EP.

(2) Pattern ships are fine, but I suggest about 90% of RC flyers are better suited to a trainer or sport design.

(3) Many of the old free flight designs made a comeback in the form of .020 powered RC models. Maybe some of the older designs - personally, I’d build a Midwest Esquire even though I haven’t flown RC until recently, simply because I’ve liked the looks of that one since it came out, and it puts me “back in time”.

As a public accountant for many years, I often started out with a new client by asking, “What makes you different from the guy down the street in the same business?” If you decide to proceed, I suggest you aim at a unique niche …

One thing for certain: building a kit today from laser-cut parts with quality wood and today’s technology (adhesives, covering, etc.) would sure be much more enjoyable than it was 50 years ago!

I would be interested in this, but would want a kit that is not simple to scratch build like a ugly stick, kwik fli, etc, that has a constant chord wing. I would buy a Taurus, Kaos 60, Dirty Birdy, etc.

For those, maybe check here. http://www.balsaworkbench.comI am only posting that because it's like kit makers etiquette to not copy production kits.

IMO.....older glow designs are not suited very well for the E-conversions that the wipe em' off haters always want to do.These designs are just too heavy to perform well once batteries that provide really good performance are installed....if there is room.

In addition to the Jensen Ugly Stick I would suggest the original Bridi Kaos 60....the square fuselage version.These fly really well with a simple K&B 60 or equivalent and are pretty light....about 5 to 6 lbs if decent wood and film covering is used.The Dirty Birdy would be good too but the rights to this airplane and a lot of other Bridi airplanes now belong to Bluejay Models.However....the original Kaos 60 square box fuse model is not listed on the BJ website so I assume he has no interest or the rights to kit it.Joe Bridi wing designs are almost all the same....very robust and easy to make.I am good for a couple of the original Kaos 60 kits.